History of Jem 100

Dennis Day bought 3 commercial lots on Main Street in Newberg. He started a business called D&L Nursery, a 24-hour doughnut shop and restaurant called Dip-n-Donuts, a 24-hour convenience store called Kozy Korner and a hard ice cream parlor restaurant called Jewell 100 Ice Cream Saloon in 1979. He built them all ground up.

Why “Jem” instead of “Gem”?

Dennis Day had befriended a couple of old brothers who owned a large ice cream manufacturing plant in Portland, called Jewell Allstar Ice Cream. It was widely distributed and popular in the region. He asked his friends if he could use the Jewell name on his ice cream parlor and they said OK. Dennis built the signs himself out of big wood letters he mounted on the building. The two older friends subsequently sold their business. The new owners asked him to remove their company name. So Dennis went out and turned the “W” upside down into an “M” and removed the “ell” from the end to make Jem.

Greg Day, Dennis’ son, purchased the business from his parents and started slingin’ ice cream, hamburgers and fries. Greg and his wife Cari, then sold the business to Tom and Linda Vondrachek in May of 1989. Tom has run the restaurant while the couple raised three children who have all worked at the restaurant at some time or another. Tom and Linda are proud to be involved in the community as supporters of Relay for Life of Newberg, local schools, and many other events and fundraisers. They have participated in Newberg’s Old Fashioned Festival each year in July since 1989.